United States Election Glossary pt 10

July 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. Just like with watching sports, you would not understand nfl if you don’t talk the talk. This is part ten of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Swing Voters – These are voters that do not have an allegiance to any one particular political party.

Term Limits – These are limits that are imposed on the length of time any politician is allowed to remain in office. As an example, the President of the United States can only serve up to two terms of four years in length in his office.

Third Party – This is any political party that is not one of the two primary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.

Town Meeting – This is a gathering of voters in a specific town in order to discuss certain issues and to arrive at decisions about those issues.

Vote – This is a way to show preference and to choose an elected leader or to decide upon an initiative. Voting can be done by marking paper, raising hands or by filling forms out on a computer depending on the type of election that is being held.

Voting Booth – This is the small enclosure where a person can vote privately.

Voting Machine – This is a mechanical device that is used for the purpose of voting. There are numerous different types of machines used for this purpose in order to streamline and to automate the voting process.

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Defending Your Right to Vote

July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Everybody works to preserve and grow their rights, including their right to vote for their leaders and the rules of their society. Some people enlist in the military, while some other people go into activism on the local stage. No matter how you choose to do so, you should always work to defend rights as important as voting.

With your right to vote, you stand above a lot of other countries. With your right to protest, you have even more abilities that far too many people don’t get in this world. It’s vitally important that you gain the knowledge necessary to protect your rights and freedoms. With your freedom and the knowledge you gain from an online degree, you can make a lot of great things happen in this world. You can also keep a lot of potential bad things from ever happening.

For one, everyone needs to be constantly on guard against losing our freedoms due to paranoia or fear of losing security. While defending ourselves is necessary, we must keep ourselves from making one of our leaders into an overt dictator just because we’re scared. With fear comes irresponsibility, so we the people need to be empowered to preserve our freedoms. If you do your part by getting educated and using your knowledge to the best of your ability, you’re a great citizen. Some of the worst things in the history of the world have happened because good people have done nothing.

 

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The Spread of Democracy

July 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
voting day in a small town

Image by Muffet via Flickr

Democracy is not just an American idea. Democracy has become one of the biggest forms of government around the world. That means that people all around the world are beginning to enjoy the rights that many Americans take for granted, such as voting. Most places consider Democracy a welcomed change over other forms of government, like Communism, Dictatorships, and Fascism.

One place that has recently turned toward Democracy is the Former Soviet Union. The Russian Federation is now run as a Semi-Presidential Republic, similar to how America is set up but with a President and a Prime Minister sharing duties. The Russian people are happy to have this new democratic government, though Communism is still a popular idea in Russia, as the Communist Party is one of the largest political parties in the Russian Federation.

Kazakhstan, also previously part of the Soviet Union, is now a Presidential Republic similar to America. Communism is still very predominant in the country, as the current Kazakhstan President and most of the Federal Government are members of the Nur Otan Party, which has many Authoritarian and Communist views, though they attempt to make their views work well within the parameters of Democracy.

Democracy has been gaining popularity world-wide since America declared its independence from Britain in 1776. Now more and more people are getting the right to vote and elect their officials. Whether it is in the form of a Republic, a Democratic Republic, or a Representative Democracy, the influence of Democracy is spreading through the world and is giving more people the right to have a say in their Government.

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United States Election Glossary pt 9

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

United States Election Glossary pt 9

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part nine of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Senate – The senate is a part of Congress. In Congress, the senators are responsible for proposing and voting on laws and legislation. Two senators exist for each state so there are 100 in total. Each senator is elected for a term of six years.

Soft Money – This is money that is given to a party but not specifically to a candidate in particular.

Straw Vote – This is an unofficial type of vote that is used in order to predict how a specific election may turn out.

Suffrage – This is the privilege or right of voting.

Suffragette – This is a person that once campaigned for the rights of all women to vote. In 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified in the United States Constitution to give all women the right to participate in elections.

Super Delegate – This is an extra-special delegate that is chosen but not elected by the party. These delegates are seated specifically because of the position that they hold in the government or their party, or they are chosen by the state’s party.

Super Tuesday – This is the day on which many special primary elections are held. Super Tuesday has been around since 1988, which is when many states in the south decided that they would hold their primary elections on the same day.

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United States Election Glossary pt 8

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

United States Election Glossary pt 8

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part eight of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Primary Election – This is an election where the primary goal is to choose the party’s candidate for a specific office. Whichever candidate is the winner from the party is later going to go up against the winner from the other parties in what is known as the general election.

Protest Vote – This is a vote that is cast for some third party candidate, a candidate that is not likely going to win. The purpose of this vote is to show displeasure with whatever mainstream candidates are running.

Redistricting – This is a process where the physical boundaries composing a voting district become changed.

Referendum – This is also known as a ballot measure, an initiative or a proposition and it is a promised piece of law that people are going to vote on during the election.

Representative Democracy – This describes a government where all adult citizens in the country can vote in order to elect the leaders of the country. The leaders that are elected are then able to make all governmental decisions.

Republican – Simply put, a republican is any individual that belongs to the political party known as the “republican political party.”

RepublicanParty – This is a major political party in the United States, also regarded as the GOP, which stands for Grand Old Party. The symbol for this political party is the elephant. Republicans came to be in the middle of the 1800s as an anti-slavery political party.

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United States Election Glossary pt 7

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

United States Election Glossary pt 7

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part seven of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Plurality – The plurality of the votes refers to whoever receives more votes than any other person.

Political Action Committee – Also known as PAC, these are political groups that are not related formally to a specific political party, but they are associated with some other group such as a corporation or a labor union. These groups try to influence candidates and elections through giving money so that they receive favor later.

Political Party – This is a group of organized people that have commonality in goals and values, attempting to get a specific candidate elected into office. The Republicans and the Democrats are two examples of major United States political parties.

Politician – This is a person running for an office, or a person that has already won an election and is in an office position already.

Poll – This is a survey of voters take in order to determine which issue or candidate they may decide to vote for.

Popular Vote – This is the result of votes from all eligible voters. Whoever wins popular vote is generally going to win the election, however sometimes the Electoral College is responsible for choosing the new president instead.

Precinct – This is a voting subdivision based on demographic area where party officials can be elected on a local basis. There are typically between 200 and 1,000 voters in a single precinct.

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